Meet the coach

By News Team
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Mon, Jan 10th, 2011
Posted in Sports

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The Minnesota Vikings have decided to retain Leslie Frazier as their head coach, removing the "interim" tag shortly after Sunday's hammering at the hands of the surprising Detroit Lions. Frazier is tasked with leading an underachieving team forward from this season's let down. Frazier will have a lot of work ahead of him before next season starts. There will be changes, but before we get into that, let's get to know the new man in charge.

Leslie Frazier was born April 3, 1959 in Columbus, Mississippi. He was a defensive back for small school Alcorn State University. He began his NFL career has an undrafted free agent to the Chicago Bears. He played for the 1985 Bears championship team. Unfortunately, that was his last season in the NFL wasa knee injury returning a punt in the Super Bowl cut his career short.

Frazier's coaching career kicked off at Trinity College in 1988, where he was head coach until 1996. He moved on to the University of Illinois as Defensive Backs coach for the 1997 and 1998 seasons. Frazier's NFL coaching debut came in 1999 as the Philadelphia Eagles hired him to be their Defensive Backs coach until 2002, when he took the Defensive Coordinator job of the Cincinnati Bengals. From the Bengals, he went to Indianapolis Colts and worked under Tony Dungy as a Defensive Backs coach for 2005, and the 2006 Super Bowl run. In 2007, the Minnesota Vikings got their man as they hired Frazier to be defensive coordinator. In 2008, Frazier was named assistant coach, behind Brad Childress, and also retained his title of Defensive Coordinator. In his four years as Defensive Coordinator, the Vikings defense has been one of the most feared units in all of football. In the last three years, the Vikings haven't ranked lower than 8th in total defense.

Frazier inherits a Vikings team with a need to get younger at nearly every position. It would not surprise this writer if this off-season Vikings management blows the team up. We may see a complete overhaul of this roster. There are 17 players with contracts expiring this off-season, including Tavaris Jackson, Sidney Rice, Chad Greenway, Ray Edwards and Pat Williams. Pat Williams is already on record as saying, "They're going to be rebuilding around here." The Vikings championship window was open, but they lacked the coaching to put them over the top. They finally got their coach, but is it too late? Time will tell.

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